NEWSPAPER EMPLOYEES TARGET OF INDICTMENT OVER COUP ATTEMPT
A Turkish court accepted a criminal indictment demanding life imprisonment for 30 people with ties to a newspaper linked to a Muslim cleric whom the government accuses of masterminding a coup attempt.
Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency said the defendants, including former managers and columnists for the Zaman newspaper, were charged with “membership in an armed terror organization” and “attempting to overthrow” the country’s government.
Zaman was raided in March 2016 after a court placed it under the management of trustees and later shuttered for allegedly serving as a mouthpiece for the movement founded by U.S.based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Twenty-one of the 30 suspects are in pre-trial detention, including 73-year-old columnist Sahin Alpay, who was arrested following the failed coup attempt last summer. The first hearing is scheduled for Sept.18.